Pool cleaner systems and methods

Abstract

An aquatic cleaning system includes a pool cleaner having a housing, a drive system for moving the housing, and a debris basket associated with the housing. The debris basket is designed to receive debris from the aquatic environment. The system includes a data capture system including an imaging device operably coupled to the cleaner. The system also includes a detection system having a storage medium storing a trained model, and a processor designed to receive data elements from the data capture system and input the data elements into the trained model to identify a detected object within the aquatic environment as being debris or non-debris. The system also includes a control system in communication with the detection system and the drive system to move the pool cleaner toward the detected object identified by the detection system when the detected object is identified by the detection system as being debris.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An aquatic cleaning system to locate and remove debris from an aquatic environment, the aquatic cleaning system comprising:
 a pool cleaner including a housing, a drive system designed to move the housing, and a debris basket associated with the housing;   a data capture system including an imaging device, the data capture system being operably coupled to the pool cleaner;   a detection system including a storage medium storing a trained model and a processor designed to receive data elements from the data capture system and input the data elements into the trained model to identify a detected object within the aquatic environment as being debris or non-debris; and   a control system in communication with the detection system and the drive system, the control system being designed to operate the drive system to move the pool cleaner toward the detected object identified by the detection system when the detected object is identified by the detection system as being debris.   
     
     
         2 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the detection system is further designed to perform at least one of avoiding identified non-debris, not collecting identified non-debris, ignoring the identified non-debris, sending a notification related to the identified non-debris, or collecting the identified non-debris. 
     
     
         3 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the non-debris includes at least one of a drain, a toy, jewelry, an owner possession, or a manufactured object. 
     
     
         4 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the data capture system includes an image processing module designed to receive images from the imaging device and to process the images to clarify at least one object in the images. 
     
     
         5 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data elements includes a high-resolution image. 
     
     
         6 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 4 , wherein the trained model includes an image library having images, wherein the detection system determines a type of detected object by comparing the received images to images in the image library. 
     
     
         7 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 6 , wherein the images in the image library relate to at least one of a leaf, a stick, jewelry, a toy, a ring, a necklace, a bracelet, a fixed object, a drain, or an in-floor cleaning pop-up head. 
     
     
         8 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein machine learning uses the trained model to classify the detected object and generate one or more confidence scores. 
     
     
         9 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 8 , wherein a cleaning pathway is assigned based on the one or more confidence scores. 
     
     
         10 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is a camera. 
     
     
         11 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the data capture system further comprises one or more ultrasonic sensors, and wherein the control system is further designed to use inputs from the one or more ultrasonic sensors to determine a distance to the detected object and to determine a size of the detected object based on the determined distance. 
     
     
         12 . The aquatic cleaning system of  claim 1 , wherein the drive system includes an encoder designed to measure a distance traveled by the pool cleaner, and wherein the measured distance is used to map a shape and size of the aquatic environment. 
     
     
         13 . A method for operating an aquatic cleaning system to locate and remove debris from an aquatic environment, the method comprising:
 providing a pool cleaner having a data capture system including one or more one imaging devices and a detection system;   capturing an image of the aquatic environment via the one or more imaging devices;   providing the image to the detection system;   performing image processing on the image; and   identifying debris and non-debris in the image based on an output generated by the detection system.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: outputting a notification if the non-debris is detected. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: controlling the pool cleaner to collect the debris identified by the detection system. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: controlling the pool cleaner to ignore the non-debris identified by the detection system. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: controlling the pool cleaner to return to a docking station for recharging. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: providing a strobe, a flash, or other artificial light to illuminate the debris or the non-debris as the image is being captured. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein performing image processing on the image further comprises: determining if the image is too blurry, performing a sharpening operation if the image is too blurry, and removing one or more caustics if the image is not blurry. 
     
     
         20 . An aquatic cleaning system to locate and remove debris from an aquatic environment, the aquatic cleaning system comprising:
 a pool cleaner having a drive system designed to move the pool cleaner;   a data capture system in communication with the pool cleaner;   a detection system designed to receive a plurality of data elements from the data capture system and input the plurality of data elements into a trained model to identify a detected object within the aquatic environment as being debris or non-debris and output an image having confidence score associated with the image; and   a controller in communication with the detection system and the drive system, the controller engaging the drive system to move the pool cleaner toward the detected object identified by the detection system when the detected object is identified by the detection system as being debris.